I was removing the weeds around my Jade plant when I came nose to eyeball with this tiny yellow spider. No I did not scream; I’m not that much of a wimp, but I did go and grab my camera. Look at it’s eyes – awww it’s so cute!

I’ve just spent the last thirty minutes trying to identify my new friend, but without success. I am always interested to know whether a bug is likely to bite or sting me so I can take the appropriate action.

The Brown Recluse Spider looks harmless
Call me cautious but, the most innocuous looking spider I’ve seen in Portugal is the Brown Recluse Spider looks harmless and if you are bitten you MUST seek medical advice immediately.

PiP, I love the photo of the tiny yellow spider. I don’t know my spiders, but it does bear a resemblance to one that is prolific here in Florida, USA (although it does not look like the same kind). The one I’m familiar with also has “stripes” of yellow and black on its legs. But, it’s body is long. Due to the body shape and length, it is commonly referred to as a banana spider. It is also called a golden orb spinner. I think they are beautiful. Thanks for sharing your little specimen. What a lovely tiny thing to share!

There is absolutly no room on this earth for me and a spider. These eight leg creepy crawlers-give me the hibbie-gibbies !!!!!! The ones I saw when living in Panama-were huge !! and I made sure to stay my distance !!!

I mouthed off the other day about not having wolf spiders in my house, today when I was vacuuming one that was nearly bigger than my cat CHARGED me…I of course sucked it up and killed it in the dog hair filled vacuum canister…GAH…hate them 🙂

Nice shot Pip! Hope you manage to identify it. Is there nature museum anywhere near you?Or a university maybe? In fact, I’m sure I’ve seen web sites where you could send photos and ask for help identifying them (you have to say where it was taken).
We have the brown recluse here in Chile, where they’re called “arañas del rincón” (corner spiders). They can be deadly, although fortunately I’ve never seen one.

Hi Margaret
Unfortunately, there is not a museum or university near us in the Algarve.
I’ve just been searching on the web again now. I’ve looked at 100’s of spiders and nothing…in fact I don’t know why I look at spiders before I go to bed, they give me the eeby jeebies!
🙂
PiP

Hi TT, no I am not a fan of spiders but I became fascinated by bugs in general When I started to photograph them I realised they are real characters and unless they are dnagerous to me, I want squash them

That’s funny because my boyfriend is more afraid of spiders than I am. He will not scream, no, but he really doesn’t like them, me I just don’t care if they are not dangerous.
I think I’ve understood they will not hurt me as long as I let them alone too. One day when I was a little girl, I’ve asked to my father to “hunt” a spider who was up to the ceiling of my room just on top of my bed. My father missed her and she has fallen right into my bed… Try to sleep after that !! Now when I see them up on the ceiling, anywhere in my bedroom, I will not try to “hunt” them but I will let them alone at least for the night. 😉

LOL,
I cant sleep with anything that crawls in my bedroom. I woke up once and I was eyeball to eyeball with a massive bug. It was resting on my pillow watching me. When I opened my eyes, focus, and saw it. I jumped out of bed screaming the place down. Poor old Mr P nearly had a heart attack.
PiP

You really do well on taking photos of tiny critters. I think your tiny spider is an garden orb weaving spider or an orb weaving spider. Run an image search in a search engine and see if you think it may be right. (Your brown recluse is scary as he**. They are a horror. ~screams & takes off running. ~ )

I made a praying mantis post and replied to your comment in my ‘Weekly Photo Challenge: Tiny’ post, yes you may use my photos.
I’d love to use one of your male photos? I look forward to your reply.
🙂

Yep, I think you are right…http://bugguide.net/node/view/13512/bgimage the pictures match, but my little spider is mniniscule by comparison of the size they quated. It was less than a 1/4inch in size. I will need to research further when I return to the UK 🙂

Hey Pip,
I didn’t get your email. For some reason, my email-host has stopped delivering… I’ve contacted them and they haven’t resolved the problem… sooo I just this morning canceled that account and changed my wordpress email address to a gmail one. If you don’t mind, would you resend the photo to my new gmail address. Thanks.